


We'll have a grand time fishing

by Jerevinan



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Childhood, Gen, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-10-09 23:23:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10424118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jerevinan/pseuds/Jerevinan
Summary: Little magnetic fishing games are the start of something more for Noctis.





	

It started with the carnival. Regis wasn’t able to take Noctis, but Ignis, the nanny, and several bodyguards came along. 

The fish weren’t real. The little magnets on their fishing poles could attach to any plastic floaty shaped like a fish, and once they were reeled in, the attendant would flip them over to check the color of its belly. Prizes were awarded based on colors. Noctis didn’t win big the first time. He didn’t on his second, third, or forth tries either. Ignis managed to get one silver-bellied fish that awarded him a hundred tickets to be spent at the counter as he pleased. Noctis continued to get consolation tissues.

Then he pulled in the gold. He bounced on his feet and shared a high-five with Ignis. Two hundred and fifty tickets!

The boys blew it all on candy and gimmicky toys.

~*~

It took them weeks to finish the candy. Most of the toys had been lost—bouncing balls that rolled beneath furniture and were likely tossed in the garbage by a maid; little tubes of slime that had stained carpets and been ruined in the laundry. Noctis couldn’t stop thinking about the fishing game. As he sat with Ignis on the floor of his bedroom, he wanted to “fish” again.

“Ignis?” Noctis unwrapped a Justice Monsters jawbreaker and popped it into his mouth.

“Yes, Noct?”

He slid the candy to his cheek to speak. “I wanna go fishing for real.”

Ignis nodded. The next day, he brought a few magazines from the Citadel library. The two of them flipped through a few of them, awed by the size of an arapaima from the Vesperpool and amused by the strangely shaped mouths of salmon. 

~*~

Regis arrived late to dinner with a gift. Noctis was more excited to see his father, but he couldn’t help his excitement as he tore the wrapping off the package.

It was a miniature version of the game at the carnival, a board game with a pool no bigger than his dinner plate that he might fill with water and place several grape-sized fish in so he could capture them with his magnetic bait on the end of a short stick. 

“Ignis told me you’re taking an interest in fishing. We might have to get you a real rod, won’t we?” Regis smiled, and Noctis hugged the board game box to his chest with a grin on his face.

“Thank you, Dad!”

~*~

It wasn’t until Noctis had a birthday that he was given his first rod. Noctis had played the board game with Ignis for several hours the first week after it was gifted, but it had gathered dust in the playroom ever since. Some of his favorite video games had included fishing. He spent a great deal of his time casting out a line, but he got bored of those, too.

Noctis was ready to catch real fish. There were some ponds in the garden, but they had been off limits. With the usual chaperones and Ignis, he was taken to a stocked reservoir within Insomnia’s safe walls. The two boys sat on the edge of a dock together and waited.

Noctis didn’t catch any fish.

Ignis told him the adults had been chatting too noisily behind them and had scared all the fish.

Noctis felt a little better after that, and the next time, he told them to all be silent so they wouldn’t scare off his catches. He was proud of the tiny bluegill he caught, even if he did have to throw it back.

~*~

Ignis made them sandwiches and another attempt at the pastries from Tenebrae (which were good, but the fruit he used was too sour compared to what Noctis remembered). The two of them sat in folded chairs at the docks. It was during high school break, and Ignis had promised to drive him to the reservoir. Prompto and Gladiolus were invited, but Prompto had finally gotten a chance to spend some time with his parents, and Gladiolus had declined. 

“I thought you _liked_ nature,” said Noctis.

“It’s a pond in the middle of the city.” 

“Fine, I’ll go with Ignis.”

In the silence, Ignis ate and watched the water. Noctis closed his eyes and felt the breeze on his face. A food cart from nearby brought the scent of smoked meats. His mind had never been clearer than when he waited for a fish to bite. 

When something did snag the line, he took twenty minutes reeling it in. He had come to expect a certain array of fish, most of them never big enough because the pond was always stocked with the same few species, and most of the larger ones were fished out by other people. Noctis had gotten used to throwing all of his catches out. He did the same with the medium-sized catfish on the other end of his line that day.

Someday, he was going to check out rivers and lakes in Lucis, cast a line, and bring in dinner. He told Ignis this much.

“And I’ll cook it for you,” said Ignis, smiling before he took a sip of Ebony.

“Deal.” 

Maybe he would get his father to join him, and the two of them could sit at the end of a dock, eat Ignis’ cooking, and talk. They would have a grand time together.

**Author's Note:**

> I pounded out a few words and here they are--hopefully they're not too awful. ^^;
> 
> I like to think about things like Ignis and Noctis growing up together, too. I started another fic about that (a multichaptered one) but I'm too embarrassed by it. I'm also terrified the DLC for Ignis might change a lot of what I have in mind for it... So who knows if I'll post that one once I'm done writing it. If I even finish it. sigh. 
> 
> At least oneshots are easy to finish. :')


End file.
